An Essay on the Three Es of the OSHC

The main focus of safety management is to foresee threats and risks involving the environment, company
operations and procedures before they actually occur. Safety management involves the putting in place of
company policies to protect the safety and well being of workers in the workplace. This means that safety
management is one of the major responsibilities of any organization, just like human resource or others.
Safety management is both used to prevent accidents and provide remedies for accidents that have
already occurred. The strategies employed in safety management vary from one organization to the next;
there are however general systems and procedures that can be put in place to ensure safety. The major
reasons for management of safety would be in order to comply with legal and ethical considerations and
for financial reasons too.
Many organizations consider job hazard analysis as the only evaluation. Organizations should be
regularly checked against a behavioural benchmark. What are executives, middle managers, and
functional level employees doing to create a zero-injury environment? How are employees involved in the
safety process? How can safety education and training at all levels be improved? What you don't know
can give risk to your safety, and what you think you know can get you injured as well. When it comes to
safety the person who is at risk for injury must be aware of the hazard and what can be done to control
the hazard and prevent injury. This is one of the three E's of safety: Evaluation, Education, and
Enforcement. So in order to avoid unnecessary work related accidents, workers or employees must abide
by the three Es of safety.
Starting from Evaluation, it is an essential to creating safety in a workplace. It is also critical to
understand the causes and nature of work-related injuries and illnesses, and contributing factors to work
accidents, in order to address problems and design improvements on the job. The hazards which
contribute to many of the injuries among workers can often be mitigated by ensuring that workplaces or
sites are safe and healthful through proper engineering and design, taking into account the demands and
characteristics of work in different occupations and industries. For example, proper ergonomic work
design can play a vital role in reducing musculoskeletal related disorders or injuries, (Ergonomics is an
applied science that involves the adaptation of work stations, machines, tools, and equipment, to fit the
occupational health and safety needs of workers).
Based on this hazard identification and analysis, appropriate engineering actions can be taken involving
the design or redesign of work stations, tools, equipment, and machines; employee training and
education; and where feasible, the adoption of administrative controls, including job rotation, break time,
diversification of job tasks, and the use of personal protective equipment (PPE). However, personal
protective equipment should only be used as a last resort. Training of employees also forms an integral
part of safety management. This is because it is important for workers to know ways of contributing to
their own safety. Organizations can host yearly training sessions to educate employees or workers on
safety management procedures. In these forums workers can also be informed of their right to a safe
working environment. This would mean they would be aware of the right avenues to be used in case of
contravention of the rules on safety by senior management.
The intent of the Employees Compensation Commission (ECC) under Section 8 of Executive Order No.
307 establishing the Occupational Safety and Health Center (OSHC) was to eliminate and control
hazards in the workplace and at worksites, and to stimulate employers and employees to institute new
and to perfect existing programs for providing safe and healthful working conditions. Evaluation used in
safety management is safety performance targets and indicators and safety requirements. These
measures are used to test for the levels of safety that are deemed acceptable. Safety indicators are used
in gauging the safety performance of a particular division. Safety performance targets are the objectives

or goals for the highest attainable standards of safety. For instance one could set a goal of zero
accidents, which would be a high standard of safety. Safety requirements are put in place in order to
realize both safety targets and indicators.
The next of the three Es is the Education . Safety is a learning process meant to increase a person's
understanding on day to day hazards and awareness on safety protocols. Employers are also obligated to
educate workers in the content and intent of safe work practices and procedures designed to control
those hazards and protect the worker from harm. Education is an integral part of safety , it is on a need to
know basis. Understanding ones nature of work and the risks that the work comes with. Companies
usually compose training seminars, equipment inspections and the renewal of old decrepit safety
equipments. Safety committees are also assigned to instruct and update the safety materials from time to
time the reason for this is the changing of safety protocols that are tied with such as the technological
aspects of equipments, the update of health standards and the morale of employees.
New employees experience a disproportionately high rate of work-related accidents, injuries, and
illnesses. All too often, a lack of education, training, and experience on how to perform the job safely are
major contributing factors. Age and Experience is also a factor that affects the rate of risk to hazards. It is
clear that while workers with less than one year of service with their employer experience much higher
rates of work-related injuries and illnesses, basically all groups are potentially at risk. Occupational health
and safety education for both workers and supervisors can play a vital role in helping to reduce these
injuries and illnesses. Examples of important topics to be covered in this education include: approaches
for identifying and abating hazards, legal provisions and standards of all applicable occupational health
and safety laws, emergency procedures in the case of accidents, and new developments in occupational
health and safety standards relating to specific types of work. Another key educational component is the
ongoing training of labour and management on safe work practices and methods, including training on the
correct usage of personal protective equipment (PPE), along with the correct operation of equipment on
the job.
A company is required to put in place a broad safety program which would include a set of rules,
regulations and activities aimed at improving safety in the workplace. In order to implement and
coordinate the activities of a safety program there needs to be in place a safety management system.
This system is a process of management of safety which includes accountabilities, structures and the
necessary strategies to ensure safety. The main goal of this system is to point out the hazards, mitigate
risks and implement corrective action. It is also to monitor and evaluate implementation of safety
standards. Safety management systems are also supposed to define how senior management will be
accountable for the management of safety. The system itself should be checked every now and then to
ensure that it is working efficiently.
Organizations that repeat the same safety education and training year after year and expect
improvement. It's not common to find companies using the same script for training that has been used for
5 or 6 years. The effectiveness of this training has long been forgotten by time. Learning about OSHC and
keeping up to date with changes can be done by purchasing an up-to-date version and forming study
groups with employees and supervisors. Safety committee members can use this book to expand their
knowledge thereby positively influencing their co-workers to create a safe workplace. It is the reason why,
what you don't know can get you hurt is a rule to abide by.

Last and final E is the Enforcement. We all know that any society, organization, or team that does not
enforce expected behaviours is bound to fail due to the chaos created by those who decide not to follow
the expectations, It is why force is necessary on this point to ensure total safety on a worker or employee.
The clear and continued need for strong enforcement of existing occupational health and safety laws is
needed. The general duty of the OSHS requires all employers to: 1) provide their employees with a place
of employment free from recognized hazards that are causing or likely to cause death or serious physical
harm. and 2) comply with occupational safety and health standards. Public employees are covered by a
similar statute providing these basic protections. The existence of these laws should enable workers to
attain healthful and safe workplaces or sites.
Safety management systems comprise: organizational structures; policies; strategies and plans for
implementation of the strategies and assessment of performance of the system and laying down plans for
improving the system. Some of organizations have implemented safety management in their
organizational structures are concerned with high risk businesses. If safety is not a priority in these areas,
then fatal accidents would be inevitable. That is the reason safety management systems are taken very
seriously in these sectors. Laws are also enforced and is a must for any worker or employee to
understand and to follow definitely. The Safety committee must enforce a safe and secure environment.
Enforcement does not mean totalitarian use of force in order to make everyone follow, it means that every
rules should be followed in order to avoid risks and accidents in compliance with an employee or workers
pace or must be done in the process that is acceptable for everybody, also lack of force would also result
in catastrophic and adverse effects on a workplace such as death and invalidity. Remember Force is not
always right but following rules will never do you wrong.
As such in conclusion, using the three Es approach involving Evaluation, Education, and Enforcement is
key to a safe workplace and free of risks and hazardous situations in a work environment. Safety
management is very important in any organization. There has to be a coherent safety management
system for the proper management of safety. To summarize, an ideal safety management system would
include a management plan and safety promotion. It would also include management of data information
whereby safety policies and regulations are made known. There is also identification and management of
risks and hazards. This means that structures are put in place to spot areas of potential risk and
thereafter plans for management of risk are setup to close up the areas of potential risk.